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El Tiradito, Tucson’s Sinner Shrine
December 12, 2016
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We had a houseguest over the weekend who was starting a long car journey to Michigan. I took her on a miniature guided tour of Tucson Saturday afternoon. We stopped at the venerable Arizona Inn, near home, to visit the Christmas tree, the croquet court, and the elegance that is the Inn. Next stop was the U of A Poetry Center. My guest was delighted at the chance to read for about 45 minutes in our fabulous environment dedicated strictly to poetry. She found some great poets, and so did I. From there we travelled to my favorite, often overlooked, art in the city, some forged metal window guards by Tom Bredlow , a Tucson blacksmith of great skill and artistry, that depict the desert animals. Bredlow is now a total recluse who continued a legacy of Raul Vasquez. Tom even purchased some of his tools when Raul passed away. He continued to hammer out super fine metal art that graces the city. These window guards are in the Barrio Viejo de Tucson, looking right at home.
forged metal by Tom Bredlow
forged metal by Tom Bredlow
forged metal by Tom Bredlow
Our final destination on the tour was El Tiradito. I had given her a couple of milagros carved from jet to make offering/wishes along her route. The tradition of wishing on this spot is deeply rooted in the history of Tucson. This popular shrine is in use since the 1870s. It stands on what was once part of El Camino Real, or royal road to Mexico City. Padre Kino himself was once walking on this exact location, giving it a connection to the Spanish conquest in the 1600’s. The legend surrounding the shrine is a story of a doomed love triangle and murdered lover who could not be buried in the Catholic cemetery due to his sinful final state. The murdered man was supposedly buried under the stoop of his lover’s house, where she built a shrine. Juan Oliveras is the only sinner to have his own place on the National Historical Register.
El Tiradito
El Tiradito
El Tiradito
Today is Virgin of Guadalupe Day, 12 December, the day Mexico celebrates the day of its patron saint. Before the Spanish conquest Mexico had a female deity protecting it. Tonantzin was on the job since prehistory as an Aztec goddess. Her history and tradition is preColombian. She is, and has been, the local female deity for centuries. Our friend went to Mesilla, New Mexico on her first stopover after leaving us. The nearby village of Tortugas is the site of one of the oldest Virgin of Guadalupe celebrations in this country. She is being fully initiated by our local Enchantment before heading north into the snow. Her mystical as well as her physical journey is now blessed by both Tonantzin and Juan Oliveras. Nice benediction.
It’s a distracted Taurus Moon today 12-11-2016 — Libra Seeking Balance
December 11, 2016
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The day starts off on a productive note for the Taurus Moon as she enjoys a trine to Pluto in Capricorn. However by midday she has to put up with distractions from Jupiter in Libra and then the Sun-Saturn conjunction in Sagittarius. What sounds like fun to those boisterous planets may cause the home loving […]
via It’s a distracted Taurus Moon today 12-11-2016 — Libra Seeking Balance
Weekend Coffee Share, Embracing Darkness
December 10, 2016
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#WeekendCoffeeShare
Welcome to the coffee party. I am glad you have the time to drop in for a cup of coffee, tea, or good cheer. If we were having coffee today I would invite you to stay for a while to tell me what is up in your life. We have a very festive table set for your visit today. I just whipped up some cranberry rhubarb sauce, and am sipping on my new favorite tea, roiboos lemon cloud. In the back yard I am grilling up eggplants and a very large batch of green chiles I picked up at the produce bonanza this morning. The selection this week ( We get 60 pounds of produce for $10) was small, but the quality very high. Nothing says Christmas in Tucson like perfect green chile, so I filled the box to the brim. We brought home watermelons, green peppers and eggplant too. I enjoy the challenge of figuring out how to use/ and or give away all the fresh vegetables before they rot. There will be sour cream enchiladas, chiles rellenos, and some chilaquiles later today. Stick around if you like Mexican food. I made great tomatillo/jalapeño salsa last week that is outstanding. We like it spicy around here.
If you are not fond of Mexican food we have great leftovers from an impromptu party we threw this week. I made an English Christmas Pudding, which created discussion, which in turn lead to a weeknight party with great old friends. One of our guests lives close enough to walk over, and has vast experience with pudding like this. His family has a traditional holiday pudding called a puzzle pudding, which they inherited from their ancestors in Wales. I made one with apples and rum raisins, and served it with great quantities of whipped cream. We partied on homemade spinach artichoke dip, crudités, olives, and cheese fondue while sipping hot spiced cider. It was perfect for our low key style. We had a great time catching up with our friends, and the effort was minimal.
As we head into the darkest days of the year I am going extra dark next week. I have an appointment to receive a light treatment at my dermatologist’s office that is kind of tedious. It requires that I stay at the office for about 2 hours, which is not so severe. After the treatment I must avoid light of all kinds for about 3 days to ensure proper healing. It is even contraindicated to sit by a window inside the house. I have rolling shutters downstairs, so I can effectively create a black out inside. While the rest of the world rolls by I will spend three days 18-21 December in total darkness binging on television and hopefully doing some writing and art. I may do some cooking, but am feeling kind of finished with holiday meal preparation. I am accentuating the winter solstice for full effect. I have candles, essential oils, and fancy red robe to dress up like Mrs. Santa Claus. I will be going into deep cover. I hope to emerge refreshed and ready for a brand new year. I wish you all a happy Saturnalia.
I appreciate the chance to share coffee and more with this group of talented writers. Stop by Diana’s blog to read, comment, or post your own coffee stories. The group is welcoming and intelligent. We welcome your point of view.
Green Chiles
Your Past does not need to Follow you into 2017…
December 9, 2016
— 1 Comment
Be here now
When looking back on the past does not interest you anymore…. Well, you know you are heading forward in the right direction…. It is amazing how much energy we can expend on thinking about the past: Our failures and mistakes; our stresses and worries about things we probably can’t change. The past is the past….
The only control we have is the present moment… right here, right now… It is the actions we take right here; right now that can change the future; thus rewriting any past negativity. Remember that as we head into a New Year. Your past does not need to define you. Further, you have complete control over the present moment which can dictate the future…
Peace, Love and Illumination!
John C. Bader is a photographer, wellness advocate and consultant specializing in spiritual self-evolution, meditation, and bio-energy healing. In his writing, he bridges science with spirituality and…
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The First One Hundred Years Of Kirk Douglas
December 9, 2016
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Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas celebrates his 100th birthday today. He is not only a piece of cinema history, but has portrayed historical roles, the most famous of which was Spartacus. He wrote a warning recently to the American people. He shared the wisdom of his perspective as a boy who joined the navy after Pearl Harbor to fight. He is married to a woman who was born in Belgium. They have both been shocked by the rhetoric of the recent election and the resulting prevailing unrest and distrust. They have direct experience with the dangers of extremism and hate based politics. He opposed the Hollywood blacklists, and lived to tell about it.
I urge you to read his entire statement. Here is an excerpt to tempt you to do so:
“Until now, I believed I had finally seen everything under the sun. But this was the kind of fear-mongering I have never before witnessed from a major U.S. presidential candidate in my lifetime.
I have lived a long, good life. I will not be here to see the consequences if this evil takes root in our country. But your children and mine will be. And their children. And their children’s children.
All of us still yearn to remain free. It is what we stand for as a country. I have always been deeply proud to be an American. In the time I have left, I pray that will never change. In our democracy, the decision to remain free is ours to make.
My 100th birthday is exactly one month and one day after the next presidential election. I’d like to celebrate it by blowing out the candles on my cake, then whistling “Happy Days Are Here Again.”
As my beloved friend Lauren Bacall once said, “You know how to whistle don’t you? You just put your lips together and blow.”
I wish Kirk and his friends a very festive day. His doctor promised him a shot of vodka if he made it to 100 years. He plans to take the offer at an afternoon party for 150 or so of his closest friends. Cheers to a happy birthday! Twitter is all a twee with #IamSpartacus today in tribute.
movie star
Pantone’s Color of the Year for 2017 Is Greenery — TIME
December 8, 2016
— 1 Comment
The Pantone Color Institute has spoken: at a time when it seems everybody is in need of some hope, the bright “greenery” should help provide some as the 2017 Color of the Year. The idolized color authority announced its choice of the shade Pantone 15-0343 (generally called “greenery”) on Thursday. Pantone chooses a color each…
via Pantone’s Color of the Year for 2017 Is Greenery — TIME This is the green that will lead 2017. Greenery will sprout in the spring of the year, bringing brightness, merriment and cheer. Despair not, lose the fear. Pantone Color Institute is here to perk up our year.
Carved Copal Art By The Cruz Family of Oaxaca
December 7, 2016
— 1 Comment
I had the pleasure of meeting Agustín Cruz Prudencia and his nephew Jesus at the Tucson Botanical Gardens yesterday. The copal wood carvings they brought to Tucson for sale are lively and brightly colored. I fell in love with the figures instantly. I am officially on restriction from buying any art, but I could not pass up the chance to own a piece of their stunning work. I was in a pinch for time, but made a choice to buy the frog that is happily decorating my living room now. It goes with all the art in my house, and yet has a unique quality that makes it stand out. It will be a prized momento from my encounter with these incredible craftsmen.
They are Zapotec from a tribe that lived, and still lives in a remote part of the state of Oaxaca. Agustín’s father moved his family to the capitol city of Oaxaca in order to make a living by selling his art. They now have a workshop that employs about 15 family members carving and painting the folkloric figures. The super fine painting is done without stencil or straight edge. They develop the ability to create super intricate geometric patterns by eye, by hand. The apprenticeship to learn this craft takes a long time. It is easy to appreciate all the fine work that goes into each piece. With both delicate carving and intricate paint designs these little characters pop with personal style.
They are going home for Christmas to be with their family. They will be celebrating with banana leaf tamales and other special seasonal dishes. They are very proud of their culture and cuisine, and rightly so. Both of my new young friends had spoken their native mother tongue as children, but have lost the ability to speak it after years in the city. They suffer from heavy discrimination against indigenous tribes in the city, so speaking it is dangerous. They still understand their mother tongue when they hear it. Their elders dressed in traditional clothing, and those members of the tribe in remote mountains still do. Modern Zapotec life as an artist is complicated, and includes borders and customs. I am glad they made the effort to bring this unique folk art to Tucson. I hope the sale works out very well for them so they will return. If you are in Tucson this weekend you can make a purchase at the United Nations Association of Southern AZ on 10 and 11 December. They have gifts in all price ranges for all art lovers.
Copal carvings
Oaxacan folk art
Oaxacan folk art
Oaxacan folk art
Copal carvings
Copal carvings
Copal carvings
Copal carvings
Copal carvings
Copal carvings
Cruz family carvers
folk art from Oaxaca
Copal carvings
my new frog
my new frog
Godfrey Ragsdale Jr. And The Jamestown Massacre
December 6, 2016
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memorial
My 8th great-grandfather was born in Virginia Colony in 1643. His parents were both killed in the Jamestown Massacre when he was an infant.
Godfrey Ragsdale I was the first generation emigrant to America. He came sometime before 1641. He and his wife were killed in an Indian massacre on April 18, 1644. Their baby, Godfrey II, was spared. He evidently came at his own expense with intent to inhabit the land, for no grant has been found to him, but there is a record of a purchase of 300 acres of land by deed from John Butler, 25 Feb 1642. This land lay on the north side of the Appomatox River in Henrico Co. Virginia. Source: “Godfrey Ragsdale From England to Henrico Co. Virginia” by Caroline Nabors Skelton; 1969; and Henrico Co. Records; Bk. 6; p. 21.
Godfrey Ragsdale II (1643 – 1703)
8th great-grandfather
Ann Wragsdale (1659 – 1724)
daughter of Godfrey Ragsdale II
Benjamin Abraham Vesser (1740 – 1779)
son of Ann Wragsdale
Samuel Harris Vassar (1757 – 1846)
son of Benjamin Abraham Vesser
Mary Vessor (1801 – 1836)
daughter of Samuel Harris Vassar
Margaret Mathews (1831 – 1867)
daughter of Mary Vessor
Julia McConnell (1854 – 1879)
daughter of Margaret Mathews
Minnie M Smith (1872 – 1893)
daughter of Julia McConnell
Ernest Abner Morse (1890 – 1965)
son of Minnie M Smith
Richard Arden Morse (1920 – 2004)
son of Ernest Abner Morse
Pamela Morse
I am the daughter of Richard Arden Morse
The Ragsdale family name is said to come from Ragdale, England, meaning either “valley at the pass” or “dweller in the valley where the lichen grows.” Henry Ragsdale was born in Leicestershire, England about 1450, his son Robert was born about 1485 in Ragsdale, Leicestershire, England. He died about 1559 and some of his children were Henry, Thomas R. and John R. Henry was born about 1510; he married Elizabeth Oglethorpe about 1532 , and their children were William, Dorothy, Elizabeth, Margaret, Owen and Catherine. Henry died in 1559. William was born in 1575; he married a woman named Heathcote, about 1615; they had a son, Godfrey I, who married Lady Mary Cookney and they both came to America.
Godfrey Ragsdale I and his wife, Lady Mary Cookney arrived in Virginia some time late in the summer of 1638. They were some of the first Ragsdales to come to America. Godfrey Ragsdale I ands his wife, Lady Mary Cookney lived in Henrico County Virginia on a 300 acre plantation on February 25, 1642, upon the north side of the Appomattox River.
On April 18, 1644 afterwards known as “Opechancanough Day” the Pamunkee Indians and several tribes in the Indian Federation went on a rampage. There was a carnage that was greater than the one in the Norfolk area in 1622. The Indians slaughtered no less than 500 Englishman. This massacre fell almost entirely upon the frontier Counties at the head of the great rivers, and upon the plantations on the south side of the James River. Both Godfrey I and his wife Lady Mary were killed and scalped.
From documents we know that Godfrey and Lady Mary had a son named Godfrey Ragsdale II, who was born in 1644. Because his mother and father had been killed in the “Jamestown Massacre”, Godfrey II’s next door neighbors raised him and later became his in-laws. Historians say that most Ragsdales in America came from Godfrey II.
Ragsdales in Virginia
Do You Hear What I Hear?
December 5, 2016
— 1 Comment
Do you hear what I hear?
Listening with full attention is an art and a skill. I believe one can listen to several layers of reality. I listen to music all day which I pipe into my environment on purpose. At the same time I read posts from all over the world making an effort to truly lend an ear to each point of view. I am sure I edit in favor of my own proclivities all the time. I hear what I want to hear, like all my fellow humans. The written word has less power over the brain to create action than the sound of the spoken voice. We can skim over either written or spoken words by drifting off with our attention. The question is, what do we hear when we distract ourselves from our own reality? Whose voice is creating our desires? Do we hear the voice of the universe, the voice of God?
Prayer and contemplation are designed to create an atmosphere in which we hear or know our purpose. Silent meditation is purposeful to teach the mind to shut up sometimes. Mystics and prophets have made contact with the Beloved by various means for all of history. Silence, and often seclusion, has been the path for many to attain mastery. Those who have not tried to be still and know might be very surprised how many internal voices have so much to say when one simply wants to quiet the mind to focus on the divine. These little chatterboxes are constantly yacking it up in our consciousness, a combo of memory, prejudice, and persona. They are the voices that make excuses for the ego. They are the smarty pants know-it-alls in our personas that are busy composing a response rather than paying full attention to a speaker. They think they are all that, but they are often confused. This does not indicate that we have split personalities, or are unusually fragmented. Everyone has to practice to be able to quiet the mind and keep it quiet. The phrase “a mind of its’ own” applies to your attention. Harnessing the full power of your own mind will be the greatest feat of patience you will ever achieve.
- Listen to what nature tells you in your body and in the environment
- Hear the sounds of the Beloved in music and chanting
- Sharpen discernment by listening deeply to other people
- Make a joyful noise unto the Lord
#WeekendCoffeeShare Set For The Season
December 4, 2016
— 10 Comments
high notes
front yard decorated
candles
front yard decorated
If we were having coffee this morning I would serve you any hot or iced tea you might like or a cup of medium roast coffee. For those of you arriving at cocktail hour from other continents I have some cranberry vodka for cocktails. It is pretty and tasty at the same time. Have a seat, put up your feet on the fireside ottoman and tell me what is happening with you. I have the room seriously scented with lavender and citrus essential oils. The wood stove is a perfect diffuser. I need to replenish the moisture it sucks out of the air, so I position two containers of water on top to continually evaporate. It is a little bit shocking to see how much goes into the air. I dump substantial amounts of essential oils in those vessels, which become my giant air fresheners all winter.
Citrus is the scent of the season for me. I have purchased a full set of citrus essential oils for December which are going quickly because I love using them liberally. Now I am rocking sweet orange and mandarin, mixed with a lot of lavender. These are all high notes in aromatherapy, or uppers if you will. The idea is to extend comfort and joy in the atmosphere. I have my ceramic gingerbread diffuser rocking the scent with a scented candle as the heat. This is the only time of year when I burn wax candles in my house because it does pollute the air inside that we breathe. I am not worried about the amount of pollution a few tiny tea lights will emit. I also have my digital candles with remote control LED lights that change color. They make me very happy. My decorating theme is not exactly geared to a modern religious holiday but to the winter solstice, and a celebration of light that seemed to happen universally in ancient times around the darkest night of the year. I am fully ready of Old Man Winter. We are stocked with wood for the fire and I have mounted all manner of solar twinkle lights in the front and back yard. We are warm and, if I do say so myself, lit.
If we were having coffee and American politics came up I would tell you that yesterday I attended a meeting to organize a satellite protest march to show support for the Million Women March on Washington, 21 Jan. Many American women are traveling to DC to march on the mall to protest the inauguration of the Donald. I have much sympathy for this movement, but not enough to travel to DC. I decided to find out what the Tucson group looked like, and what they planned to do. I live streamed the event to my FaceBook page. The meeting was at once very uplifting and disconcerting. The median age of the women in attendance was around 55 or 60, with very few under 40, and I saw nobody under 30. They debated the language of protest and how to best express the outrage they felt. They talked about Gandhi and Martin Luther King, which was predictable. There were 3 men over 60 in the crowd. One with his wife, one with Occupy Tucson, to convince the group to join their march, and one who had very good sense who came out of nowhere. He suggested the group use positive rather than negative language. A lot of women wanted to show off and talk about their previous political involvement and how they knew Trump supporters who were poor and underserved who needed to be converted. When I asked them if they knew how hashtags work I was told they planned to find high school girls who would instagram and hashtag the whole thing for them. These old ladies have missed the point. They can march until the world looks level and will have little sway on national politics. They need to learn how to lobby, how to hashtag, how to trend, and how to relate to the youth. The times they have been are a changin’ and they need to acknowledge that the problem here is not HOW Americans voted, but that half of Americans did not vote at all. I am in favor of their march and movement, but the medium is the message. The most efficient and effective mediums must be exploited along with the labor intensive.
If you were relaxing by the fire today I would now end my observations of politics and society in general and find out what you have been doing. I have a killer nutloaf of spinach and almond with a nice parsley sauce. Let me heat up a slice and serve it to you while you enjoy the fire. I have almost used up all the nuts from last year, but am still pitching the nuts to guests because they are so healthy and tasty. Thanks for stopping in today. You are welcome to take a nap by the stove after your snack, especially if you have a long trip home. Alexa is loaded with Amazon unlimited music, so please ask her to play your favorite music. Just say her name and tell her what you want.
Ending the year with this sophisticated group of digital coffee drinkers is a pleasure. I appreciate knowing you, sharing with you, and learning about your writing journeys. Thanks to Diana for keeping the party going from New Orleans even week. Drop in and comment, post, or just enjoy the coffee. Cheers!
Christmas cactus
Season’s decorations
scent diffuser
mermaidcamp 